Monday, February 7, 2011

While there was no game winning field goal in the waning seconds of Super Bowl XLV, both kickers each had a notable attempt in the second half.

The moment came for Packers kicker Mason Crosby with 2:07 remaining in the fourth quarter. On the previous possession, the trailing Steelers scored a touchdown and two-point conversion to close the gap to 28-25. The Packers subsequently drove and Crosby hit a short field goal to push the lead to 31-25, which would end being the final score.

"After the game, I was thinking that was probably the hardest 23-yard field goal of my career."

Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham's moment came in the third quarter, with Pittsburgh trailing 21-17. They did not capitalize, as Suisham was wide left on the 52 yard attempt. Head coach Mike Tomlin noted afterward:

"That was a terrible decision by me. In hindsight it wasn’t even close. We made the field goal in pregame and he kicked the ball well going in that direction. I took a calculated shot at it and failed. But no judgment on [Suisham]. This guy has been everything that we’ve asked him to be. We picked him up along the way this season and he’s one of the reasons that we’re here. I appreciate his willingness to go out there under the circumstances that I put him in."

Finally, on a side note, special kudos to Calgary Stampeders kicker Rob Maver. Last week when we asked some specialists whom they thought would end up being the MVP in the Super Bowl, Rob made a gutsy call. Rather than going with one of the four obvious candidates that we had preselected, he prophetically went with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Although the MVP honors went to a QB this year, we remain confident that it will go to a specialist next year.